October 29th, Oponino to Kaitaia, and A Quarter Century

As noted before, we got an early start out of Oponino. In an effort to escape the tourist lanes, we took the road to Rawene where there is a short 15 minute ferry across the harbor. It’s one of those landing craft types like the inter-island ferry in the San Juans.

We stopped at a nice (finally) little café for breakfast. Great coffee. We were headed for Kaitaia which is the “gateway” to the Te Aupouri peninsula which terminates at Cape Reinga, and the northernmost point in NZ that they will allow you to go. North Cape is actually a couple kms farther north, but you can’t get there except by foot.

On the way we took a little detour at Herekeno. There were roads on the map that just dead end at a bay somewhere so we decided to take a couple. These narrow gravel roads wound all through the countryside. Every so often there would be a building, house, barn etc., but no people. It was like one of those movies where the population of the Earth has been destroyed and you’re the only one left. There were a couple old churches.

We got into Kaitaia and got set up, and caught up on electronic chores.

A Quarter Century

Well, it just so happens that today is our 25^th “Anniversary”. Since we were together for 10 years before we were married, instead of celebrating the day when Cynthia got half of my stuff, we recognize the date of our first date. And this year’s celebration consisted of going to KFC, which is the safest looking place to eat here. Turns out appearances aren’t everything. 

Later on (evening-ish), Cynthia decided she’d walk to the grocery store for some milk. A short while later I look out the window and notice it’s pouring rain outside. I’m just picking up the car keys to go find her when she opens the door. She’s soaking wet, in tears, and says “I’ve just been egged”. Happy Anniversary. On the bright side, I remembered that it really isn’t the 29th yet at home, so we got a do-over. This time it was Chinese take-out. The next morning I’m in agony and can’t get very far from the toilet. 

We met and had dinner with a couple from the UK that immigrated here 6 years ago (they’re trying to find a way out). We told them about the Chinese disaster. “Are you sure it wasn’t the KFC? They’re pretty well known for that”. 

Our plan from here is to go all the way up to Cape Reinga and camp for a few days. Their comment was “We don’t want to put you off, but a lot of people’s cars get “knicked” up there”. I am assuming “knicked” is British for stolen. They also were kind enough to tell us about the recent rape/murder of two Danish tourists at the hands of two Maoris. When I told them about our little side trip to Herekeno they were surprised we made it back. I’m starting to rethink the camping idea. We’ve already decided that we can’t do any overnight hikes because all of our stuff will be gone when we get back. Anyway, we’re now heading off to the Cape. If you don’t hear from us again, at least they’ll know where to start the search.

Total trip cost to date: $12,058.07 USD

October 28th, Kai Iwi Lakes to Opononi

At the threat of rain, we bugged out from Kai Iwi Lakes and resumed our trek north. Ever since we got to Dargaville, everyone was telling us that we HAD to stop at Tony Mahoota’s (but don’t leave anything in your car). Well Tony Mahoota’s was on our way, so we figured we’d stop. 

On the way, we got stuck behind a caravan of, well Caravans. That’s what they call small motor homes here. All of the roads are narrow and winding, with straight stretches few and far between. And if you recall, all oncoming traffic will be at least clumps of two; lead car and butt-sniffer. Besides, when I say caravan, I mean like 20 of them; all identical. It must be some kind of tour package.

Well we slogged along behind at 50 kph. All of a sudden the traffic stopped. Looking ahead we could see a blue-hair directing these units into attack formation, and assigned parking. They stopped at, you guessed it, Tony Mahoota’s. Well that stop was out. Besides, when we went by, instead of being like an Italian or Polynesian restaurant, we saw that Tony Mahoota’s was actually Tane Mahuta, which is a tree. So disappointed not to have seen that.

We continued on to a small community called Omapere-Opononi. The scenery was awesome. The water was an azure blue and the sand dunes across the harbor were spectacular. That’s where the good part ends. There is a definite well-beaten tourist path along the coast, and everyone is forced to traverse it. All over the country they have information kiosks (called i-sites) at all noteworthy tourist traps. We stopped into one hoping to circumvent the usual lodging routine of sitting in a parking, lot calling everyplace at random, asking the same questions: what is the rate, and do you have internet? The info clerk informed us that no place in town has internet. 

All the places were the same, so we just picked one. We asked the lady if there was a good beach to fish off of. She gave us directions to a great beach (don’t leave anything in your car) but we dodged it because there was nowhere to park.

One thing we’ve noticed is all the proprietors of these establishments have the same quality; a cheerful, friendly attitude. We stopped in to a café for breakfast. We walked in through the wide open door. The owner says “we’re not open, get out, I just got here”. In my typical witty fashion, I said “what time do you open”? “I don’t know. 9:00. 8:30 maybe”. They seem to have the attitude of ‘hey, we’re the only game in town, and we’ll never see you again”. That was the worst stop yet, and the earliest we were out of bed and back on the road.

World renowned NZ saltwater fishing:

Heavy negotiations:

And the winner is...

Total trip cost to date: $11,700.26 USD

October 27th, Kai Iwi Lakes/Manganui Bluff Beach

As it turned out, the weather improved on the last day of the 3 day weekend (just like home) and we headed for Kai Iwi lakes. This coincided perfectly with all the water skiers, jet skiers, volley ballers et al, throwing all their waterlogged stuff in their trailers and heading back to Auckland. This left only us and one other old couple. Peace and quiet; what a drag. We hastily set up camp and headed down to the lake.

Worst kitchen I've had since we got here:

Kai Iwi lakes are deep sand dune lakes. From the second picture you can see that the trick to fishing it from shore is to wade out far enough that you can cast over the littoral zone. This means wading out at least to your thermometer. In many places you can't get there. But there are places that are shallow enough that you can get to the drop off.

A couple we met on the beach gave us directions to a guy's house that lives by the lake. They told us to just go up and knock on his door and ask him about fishing the lake. We did and were told that it was too late in the year. All the big fish were down deep because the water is heating up. If we caught anything, it would be a small one; probably only 2 to 2.5 kilos (um, thats 4.4 to 5.5 pounds!). His parting piece of advice was that if the fish were biting, I might catch one.

The first night the wind was still blowing pretty hard. I went to a semi sheltered area and waded out to my dangly bits. With the wind at my back, my casting looked like I was whipping a mule team. I could only stay in the water for about 45 minutes before my fingers quit working, and my wife started mother-henning. Bottom line is between that evening and the next morning, I caught 2.5 fish in 1.5 hours (the .5 snapped my fly off). None of which came half way up to the small category. Maybe they were somebody's live bait that got loose. The next morning it was threatening to rain again so we vamoosed.

Between fishing and not fishing, we went to Manganui Bluff beach. All beaches in NZ are considered state highways. You can drive the full length of 90 mile beach (60 miles). We went down at low tide to pick mussels. There are tour buses that cart Asians up here just to pillage the beach. It's like an ant farm. There's usually at least one burly Maori on the beach quite willing to give them a conservation lesson. Even though there is no legal minimum size limit, the Maori urge not taking any mussel smaller than the width of your palm. Seems pretty reasonable to me.

On the road to the beach:

Plenty for all...







We came across this cheerful little feller on the beach. There had been people criss-crossing all day. Then he just yawns and starts shuffling on down to the water.





I got close enough to piss him off. I thought I was able to get a picture of the fangs in his gaping maw, but all I got was a blurred image as I bolted like a little girl.


Total trip cost to date: $11,626.51 USD

A random misplaced note about coffee

One of the really nice things about this country is the coffee. We saw a few Starbucks in Auckland. We wonder why they bother. It must be a cultural, yuppie thing, because every tiny little jerk-water hole in the wall has espresso machines and serves outstanding coffee. A town may be so small that it doesn't have a gas station ( sorry, petrol station), but if it has a cafe, it has great coffee. In fact, outside of Starbucks, it's tough to find drip or filter coffee. 

Back home, once you leave the major population centers (density 1 person per sq. meter) you are hard pressed to find decent coffee. All you get is Folgers Farmer Coffee. That stuff is about as good as boiled out stains from an old tablecloth.

A note about the rising crime rate in NZ

Back in 2006 when we were here last, we traveled from Christchurch to Auckland and never heard about any crimes; violent or otherwise. But then we didn’t ever go into Auckland or parts north. This time there are news stories about tourist girls being beaten and killed, Maori gangs, don’t go here or there after dark, etc. Ever since we headed north, every time we have asked about going to this beach or that, the directions have always been appended with “whatever you do, don’t leave anything in your car.” No matter how big or small the town is. 

The farther north we go, the more you are cautioned. They prey on tourists I guess, and the farther north you go, the worse it seems to be. With the exception of the Dargaville CSI team, we have not seen a single cop since we left Auckland. 

I think that this also answers the tailgating/excessive speed (we have affectionately named them “butt-sniffers”) on the road question. Less cops equals more guts. Cynthia got egged while walking down the sidewalk one evening.

October 27th, All Points Bulletin! Crime spree in Dargaville!

Late Sunday the weather broke and we were getting ready to give up the Presidential Suite and head for Kai Iwi lakes. It was a nice calm night and we were sitting out on the veranda having a snort. Cynthia is keeping a detailed journal (as in what we had for breakfast, what color socks, etc.) of our trip, and I was working on this blog on the off chance that I was ever going to see the internet again here.

 
About 10:45 two Budget rental vans came pulling in, and started asking questions about accommodations. I put them on to the owner’s cell number. A while later the owner showed up and the negotiations began. “What do we have here, four boys for rooms?” Four men he was corrected. One piped up: “We’re none of us married, but we don’t go that way!” They ended up with two rooms. We heard the owner arguing with the guys but couldn’t make out what was said.

 
The next morning when we woke up, we looked out the window and the place was swarming with police; two cops and a woman photographer taking pictures of the “wheelies” in the gravel. That’s what they call “peel-out” marks here. I went outside to see what all the commotion was about. 

Apparently during the night these fine upstanding citizens were held up at gunpoint and one of their vans stolen. Turns out it was full to the roof with brand new electric generators.
At 2:30 am during the night we were awakened by the fire sirens coming on summoning the volunteer Fire Brigade. It turns out that the cops found the van empty and burning a ways up the road. The arguing the night before was the men trying to sell the owner a new generator. The asking price started at $4700. When they were down to $1500, the owner figured there’s something fishy, and ended the discussions. We packed up and left.

October 26th, Hot Breakfast

On Friday, the expert weather guessers said that Friday night would be a washout (they were right) and that the bad stuff would be gone by Saturday morning (they were wrong). It blew and rained off and on all day Saturday. Then it blew all night. The branches scraping on the metal roof of our Pullman car made this soothing sound similar to fingernails on a chalkboard. Then the rains that would be through by Saturday morning started and it sounded like someone was on the roof pouring out a five gallon bucket of ball bearings.

When we woke up, we decided that the weather demanded that we have a store-bought hot breakfast instead of a bowl of nuts and seeds. We went to the Kauri Coast Café. We ordered our breakfast and sat down. These people came in and started moving all the tables around. One woman said “You better get your order in quick, we got twenty people coming”. It seems that the leftover dregs of a blow-out 40^th birthday party were coming in. I think we heard the “band” from our room, er, car last night. All these people started coming in. There was one woman with incredible pants. I’m thinking it must have taken her 45 minutes to get them on. I have this image of her taking them wet out of the washing machine and stepping into them. Phase two would be to lie on her back and try to wiggle them up. Once snapped with a chain binder she would then take the hair dryer and shrink them on. They were tight enough to see her religion. We named her Spray Paint Pants.

Total trip cost to date: $11,535.00 USD

October 25th, Dargaville Campervan and Holiday Park

We moved over to the converted railroad car place. Before settling on this gem, we thought we might try what they call a Backpackers. That’s what they call a hostel here. We thought it might be kind of fun (and cheap) to rub elbows with the great unwashed public. These places are usually dormitory style, catering to the purple-haired, pin-in-the-nose, patchouli-soaked European youth. They generally have communal facilities like kitchen, bathroom/showers, common lounging areas, etc. They will also have single or double rooms for additional charge. We took a tour of one. It was generally clean enough, and they had an available double room.

The problem for me is that communal areas are, well, communal. The other problem was that I would have to walk through the outdoor smoking area to get to and from our room, or the bathroom. I can hold my breath long enough to get through the smoking zone, but the thought of getting up in the middle of the night (54 years old, remember), putting on my clothes, trekking to the can and then expect to get back to sleep was not appealing. I’m guessing that they wouldn’t appreciate me watering their lawn. So for four more dollars, we upgraded to the railroad car that has a bathroom (they call them “ensuites”). They have a communal kitchen but since there aren’t many people here, it’s not too bad.

Private veranda:

Bedroom suite:

Master bath:

Self explanatory:

Best kitchen I've had since we got here:

The formal dining room:

One of the actual positive things about sharing a dining room, is you sometimes get to eat with other interesting guests:

They even have an on-premise gym:

...and telephone (note the crank):

The weather has absolutely sucked since we got into town. There was an unbelievable thunderstorm last night. I feel sorry for those dumb asses who drove all the way up here from Auckland (this is their 3-day Labour weekend) to huddle in their tents at the lake in the torrential downpours.

Did you know that Dargaville is the Kumara (like a purple sweet potato) capital of New Zealand? Well, it is. And for $20 you can get a lecture telling all about its history.

They also take their possum huntin’ quite seriously. Folks come from miles around just to put down a few beer and possum.

We took a drive up to the Kai Iwi lakes. They are beautiful, but the wx was so bad that there was no way I could fish it. Maybe tomorrow.

Total trip cost to date: $11,478.84 USD

October 24th, Journey to Dargaville

We checked out of the apartment promptly at 10 am and hit the road for the 3 hour drive north to Dargaville (pop. 4600). The main reason for this is Kai Iwi lakes. These are 3 very deep sand dune lakes holding 4-5 lb. trout (they say).

On the way we stopped at a town called Wellsford for lunch. We decided on fish and chips so stopped at the first place we saw. We went in and you guessed it, run by an Asian woman. Well I was bustin' for the restroom after the drive. I asked her where it was. "Lestloom, what is lestloom?" she said. I replied, "You know...the TOILET."
She looked at me and said "McDonards". "What?" I asked. "McDonards. You go. You go now".

There were a couple guys standing around so I asked if they could understand what she was saying. I thought she said McDonalds. "McDonalds?" They asked. We stepped outside. He points down the highway about a half mile. "You see the Caltex station?" "Yeah". "Well it's across the road from there.” "You mean I have to get in my car and drive to a place to take a piss?" That was Wellsford.

There was a huge storm last night. I'm glad we were in a motel instead of camping. I'm going to try the lake as soon as possible. Tonight we're moving to a place where the rooms are converted railroad cargo shipping containers. I may have to start posting this blog in bursts, since I don’t know when I will have access to the net. 

Total trip cost to date: $11,416.02 USD

MOTAT/Zoo

Nothing too interesting to report here. Auckland has a museum that's called MOTAT. I think it stands for Motion and Technology. They have an aviation wing that I particularly wanted to see. Turns out it is mostly civil crap, and a bunch of corroded hulks out back. To give you some idea of the content, they had a Cessna Ag-wagon on display. They did have a few nice pieces. Keith Park was RAF Air Vice Marshal during the Battle of Britain. He had his own personal Hurricane that he used to pop around the various airfields that he was responsible for. There is a restoration of this aircraft at the hangar.

There was one of my favorites crammed between less interesting foreign craft:

Next stop, the Zoo. All the usual stuff but I did take a few pictures. We went into an aviary that was really cool. There were beautiful parrot-like birds. When you went in there, they got all excited and flew all around the place. I had my arm stretched out taking a picture when a Rainbow Lorikeet landed on my hand. Ansel Adams behind me grabbed the camera from me so she could take a picture. Here's what she got:

We also found a girlfriend for Norman:



















She's got a boyfriend, but I think Norman can take him.















A couple other cool birds:

He didn't like me tickling his feet...

We also found Sophie there, but she wouldn't come when we called her!

Better than no poon at all, I guess.

After all of my fishing research, I finally found the hot spot!!



















Total trip cost to date: $10,924.49 USD

Whatipu

We made our second Extra-Urban Excursion (EUE) to a beautiful west coast beach called Whatipu. For whatever reason, the letters "Wh" together are pronounced like an "F". That makes this place pronounced Fattypoo, I think.

One of the nice things about Auckland is if you drive an hour in just about any direction you're into beautiful country. The trouble with driving here is the kiwis drive like a bat out of hell, and they're always right on your tail. I'm never really sure what they want me to do. Speeding up doesn't help because no matter how fast you go, it's like they're chained to your car. I guess I could pull over. Maybe they just like the view back there. I think that speed limit signs must have been a government make-work program during the Great Depression because no one seems to read them.

Total trip cost to date: $10,135.07 USD